EP final weeks preparations...

SO. I'm making the online list of everything that needs to be done before I release this guy in less then a month.

1) Record keyboardist Malcolm Campbell over the intro track while I'm still in Boston.
2) Finish up mixing my vocals on the tracks
3) Add and mix verses from emcees to the track "Stop!"
4) Meet with talented Lucky Movie team and shoot EP documentary
5) Finish up album artwork, add illustration.
6) Finish recording transitional material between tracks
7) Plan EP release party/rehearse with band
8) Finish website ken-ross.com
9) Release EP, and take a break for a week.
10) Realize I can't take a break, force every person I've ever met to download the EP off my website.

So, I'm close. I'm excited. I can't wait to get this project off my chest and hear what people think about the whole vibe... Right now its looking extensive, 15 tracks or so consisting of an hour of solid music.

A week or two ago I visited the gsg out in NYC to track some synth and live instrumentation for their upcoming mixtape/EP... hip-hop fans out there be warned, the beats are much improved and their sound is maturing with every track, you can catch a peek into the weekend on youtube...

P.S. I finally gave in and made myself a twitter. If you have one add me and I promise I'll come up with something superrr interesting to say!

On the Radio?... well...

Back when I had more time on my hands, I would watch those "Behind the Music" specials on Vh1. And in every episode, artists describe the moment when they heard their song on the radio or saw their video on mtv for the first time. Now I'm not saying that watching myself grind up on a video-ho from my living room is a life goal of mine; which it just so happens to be, but the other night I kind of had a similar experience vicariously through an artist that I work with.

I was practically living out of the Northwestern University Library last week, and on Wednesday night I went to the cafe to get jacked up on double shots, apples and o.j. (all of which to be downed in five minutes to numb my face and make my hands shake uncontrollably). And while ordering my essentials, the sound of Kentrell's "Encore" was playing in the background. I flipped! I started interrogating the workers, cause I assumed it was playing on a CD of theirs. But they were confused, as the song was playing on 107.5 FM (WGCI Chicago's Hip Hop and R&B station). I probably would have already heard it, if I had listened to the radio once in the past 6 months. But it was a real cool experience for me, as I have played in Kentrell's band and had specifically rehearsed "Encore" with him.

I explained to the people behind the counter that I played with Kentrell, and they were slightly-impressed, responding with "why don't you get your shit on the radio now?" And with that, I returned to my dungeon to continue loving my life for the rest of the night. But I am done with the semester now, and I am just finishing up my first day back home, feeeels good. I can't say I miss having to wake up and actually do shit. And I can finally read without taking notes, which makes it so much more enjoyable.

Productive Break

Just coming off what was a good past couple days of tracking. With almost everyone gone from the Evanston campus for Thanksgiving I had plenty of time to myself to get some of the final tracking done for this EP that's been in the works for... well... way too long. With the help of a new condenser mic I was inspired to finish those tracks up and now I'm into the mixing stage... Just to give you an idea of what my weekend looked like:




And now I will never be able to forget the days when I recorded in a bathroom using a shower curtain as sound proofing and a pizza box as a desk. Notice the view from the window; its awesome having to take a break every ten minutes because all you can hear/see are trains coming and going from each direction. But all and all it was a good weekend and now hopefully I can get into the final mixing stages and finish this project up!

Big Pictures

My roommate turned me on to this section of boston.com which has some killin photography updated frequently. Some of this stuff is real surreal, so stay tuned to http://www.boston.com/bigpicture

Hope everyone is having a good holiday, Unfortunately I'm out here in Chicago instead of back east with the family this year, but I'll be heading back for Christmas so I'm looking forward to that.

American Rag gig photos

Here are some photos from the concert I did for American Rag Apparel at Bills Blues






Special thanks to Alisha Varma and Steve Blackman!

instrumental

haven't posted any new music lately because I'm saving it for the release of the full project. But I worked on a bunch of instrumentals this summer, checking out some new vibes while engineering new sounds and moods. Here's an instrumental that I built off a Brian Blade sample from a Wayne Shorter composition. The bridge of the tune turned out real dope and fierce. Of course I had to take a little synth solo at the end...

Kentrell Band

The other night I had a rehearsal downtown with some other talented Chicago cats for this new Jive R&B Recording artist Kentrell, and it was tight.

The music is a contemporary take in the spirit of Prince and Michael Jackson, and the artist is legit. Yeah, I know, there are plenty of R&B "artists" out there today that just can't really put on a live show without gradually undressing themselves but this cat is legitimate. Check him out on his website.

One of the charts we played was his single "Encore". It works real well live cause its guitar heavy. We flipped it a bit, which is the case when you're playing most charts with a band. If any of you can make it out to the shows to peep I definitely suggest it. I'll let you know about the gigs as they come about.

^dates fall'09

This summer was real busy,

On top of workkin the jazz guiitarr with groups around Chicago and teaching a bit out in Litchfield CT, I have been going harrrd on my production work.

Fortunately, I'm finally inspired enough to get my shit together and announce the coming of my debut release! I can't tell you how excited I am for this coming project, considering I haven't been on a publicly released product since... 2006? Wow. The hiatus is over, and I'm telling you now, the music that I release will be worth the wait. To the few ears that I have been trading rough drafts with; the reports are all real positive, and I've promised those ears and mine not to let these tracks slip through the cracks into a sad, lonely place on my hard drive like I have in the past.

So what to expect? Well I have some confirmed collabs to get your brain ticking already, Jo'Leon Davenue, Magestik Legend, Oddisee and otherrs are in the works. The music will be a cluster-fuck of everything that influences me, but... if I had to narrow it down...

It would be like if Jack Kerouac was cryogenically frozen (you know, a la John Spartan in Demolition Man) but melted and came to consciousness in Electric Ladyland Studios in 1998, (unfortunately without Wesley Snipes) where he began a tenure as a sound engineer until he got fed up with shitty R&B artists and waiting for D'Angelo to come out with a new album so he went on the road with Phonte and Nicolay last fall, & THHEEENN after that decided he'd try to make some music of his own to bring all the ne-yyoz, j-holidayyz and treyy-songz jokers of the music business to their knees.

But I digress, because that would be way to perfect. And I guess it might not be that dope, but it will be something worth checking out and showing to your baby momma--momma's momma... baby momma's momma. Just to get on her good side.

photo-shoot

Thanks to my sister I got a nice photo-shoot the other day for some promotional purposes. Here are a couple of the takes,

My sis has been hard at work with her Fashion Agency, and is actually heading to Italy to promote the biz this weekend--first in my immediate fam to cross international waters in a looonnng time, of which I am both proud and yet ashamed of. Check her work out on the web and her blog: Global Fashion Agency

pre-k identity crisis

i was convinced i was michael jordan until the third grade.

i found the kindergarten self portraits to prove it.

Featured on new Mixtape: Green Street's "Chess Moves"

Just yesterday Boston/NYC hip-hop group Green Street released their third CD/Mixtape entitled "Chess Moves".




The mixtape has some good stuff on it--from a variety of artists. I did some of the work for the album as well, I wrote/bassed/guitared/vocaled on one of the hottest songs on the album, "All I See", which features D.C. based rapper/producer Oddisee. I also got on there with Alexia Blakley on "I'm Still", which was posted on this blog earlier in May. I also wrote this track for NYC artist Lucy Liu entitled "6 A.M." and I play all the instruments on that track. I also did a transition from the end of "Top of the World" to "6 A.M.", Which you can hear at the end of that Top of the World track. Congrats to Renaissance and A-Live on the work, support and follow them at their blog and myspace.

Dillo Day Postgig/Photos

My computers been down since Dillo Day, but I just wanted to post up some photos. The show went real well, I can't think of anything that could have been better... maybe the weather? It was pretty shitty when we went on; but we are called "the Rainmakers," good thing those clouds held out cause we we're killin' it!!!

To the Band, Rotimi, Alexia, Loonz, Dre, Gebhardt, Mayfest staff, and everyone that came out to see the show--THANK YOU!!! "y'all the f**kin best, y'all the f**kin best, best I ever had..."

Click on the photos to enlarge them and get reeeall up close and personal...










Photo Props to Katherine Tang/North By Northwestern

Talented Filmmakers

Sorry about the brief hiatus, my mac hard drive died a week ago, I've been out of commission for a bit but I'm back.

Lately I've been meeting a lot of talented filmmakers and I figured I'd share some of their work with all of you.

This is my friend Midori's Documentary on the Politics of Race and Gender in Hip-Hop Culture. She has interviews with Big Sean, the Cool Kids, and FM Supreme on here, its interesting to see where all these people are coming from and their take on the questions Midori asks, check it out:

Director's Cut from Midori McSwain

Also, In meeting Pharrell Williams the other night (yes, something I will write about in detail later) I got to meet up with these talented Northwestern Students and Independent Filmmakers representing Sky Pilots Chicago. Check out their interesting take on film on their website (linked above). My favorites are probably Chapter 4 & 5, but they all are really captivating. I really dug the music they used in their projects, and one of them actually got at me about possibly using some of my tracks in one of their upcoming episodes, we'll see what happens but for now check out: Chapter 5: Michigan Avenue

SKY PILOTS CHAPTER 5: MICHIGAN AVENUE from SKY PILOTS

PEEPs.

beep. beep. beep. beep. beep. click. monday morning...




Although it is not Monday Morning, this morning, you need to peep Nate Smith cause I guarantee it will start out your weekend right.

Every once and a while you run into one of those musicians that can do it all. They can play something interesting on almost anything you put in front of them, whether it be a piano, snare drum, salt shaker, slide whistle, etc... Its a rarity but when someone has that kind of talent and has put in a lot of work to honing it, their gift is really something special to acknowledge and appreciate.

Which is why there is no way I couldn't write about one of the musicians I have a ton of respect for, Nate Smith. This guy is the real f***in deal, as not only one of the highest demand jazz drummers out there, but as a Soul/R&B/Hip-Hop producer. It seems like no matter who I show his music to, everyone can find something in his music that they deeply connect to. (whether a jazz head, R&B/Soul fan, hip-hop producer, rocker or just general fan of music)

Originally from Virginia, Nate Smith began touring with jazz legend Betty Carter while still attending James Madison University, which eventually led to his meeting with jazz bassist Dave Holland. Smith currently plays in Holland's Grammy award winning jazz quintet, The Dave Holland Quintet. You can hear him playing with them here. Definitely check out the 3 minute drum feature that begins 3 minutes in or so. This video doesn't even show you just how talented this guy is on the kit, I've seen him live twice and both times it was incredible. Not only with the Dave Holland group, but also with the Chris Potter Undergound.

As far as his production and song writing, Smith got one of his first breakthroughs back in 2001 when he co-wrote a piece on Michael Jackson's Invincible titled: "Heaven Can Wait." Not a bad start, writing for the king of pop? But some of my favorite work of his came off his EP that was released last year, Waterbaby Music, Vol. 1. This EP features MC and member of A Tribe Called Quest, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and also talented vocalist John Gordon.

Definitely check out the single from the EP: "Monday Morning". Clearly Nate Smith draws from all kinds of music to create a fresh style. Honestly I think that if he gained more publicity he could really shake up the R&B/Soul scene, so definitely check him out and get the rest of Waterbaby Music, Vol. 1! let me know what you think.

A Hummingbird

A Hummingbird from Ken Ross

Please excuse my hick-up on that "A Hum-ming-bird", it would seem I had something in my throat the entire take haha. Good thing its not an important line in the song or anything.

Estelle, Pharrell, and... Ken Ross!? 4 Rell??

Last week this side-band that I lead and arrange for, Rotimi and the Rainmakers, got the opportunity to open for Estelle, and N.E.R.D. at a music festival called Dillo Day.

Needless to say, I am so happy. I've been working real hard for this project writing out horn parts and arranging rehearsals, I'm really glad that things have come together and that people are enjoying the music the way I always hoped people would.

Way too much going on these past couple weeks, but I'm not going to lie I still haven't finished writing out/figuring out what exactly we're going to be playing on the gig, so I gotta wake up and finish all that before tomorrow's first rehearsal. I just want to make a big shout out and thank you to Rotimi and everyone in the band:

Brett "B.J." Johnson, Trombone
Mike "Beast Mode" Anderson, Tenor
Eric Seligman, Trumpet
Swingin' Swen Hendrickson, Bass
Lawrence Haskin, drums
and Matt Law, keys

These guys are all so talented, enthusiastic and a pleasure to work with!

All I know is that on May 30th I'm going to be back stage meeting and chilling with as many of those musicians that I mentioned above as possible. And word is we get our own green room!? suggestions on odd requests? I know I'm asking for a shit-ton of KY lube and a VHS version of Leprechaun 2: "Back to the Hood".
But for now I'll leave you all with some past photos of the band from our last show, and I hope you all make it out to check out the show next Friday if you're in the greater Chicago area.




^ ^ Ro and Alexia killin my "I'm Still" joint! ^ ^



photo props to Elisa Meggs and Justin Barbin

I'm Still featuring Alexia Blakley

Wayyy back in the Fall, I came across this talented Northwestern student and vocalist with named Alexia Blakley. The night I met her she killed a version of this Jazmine Sullivan song "Need U Bad". I was real into that joint at the time, and she sounded so good on it she ended up winning the Northwestern Apollo night. I got at her after the show all telling her how we should work together and this and that, she probably wrote it off, but I was for real. Staying true to my word, I wanted to expand my Rotimi and the Rainmakers set this spring, and I knew her addition would be amazing, so I wrote this contemporary Marvin-and-Tammi-like joint called "I'm Still".

I got at her through "the facebook", sketchy as hell transactions; but she ended up in my dorm room where I first showed her the song--just me and my keyboard. She was feeling the vibe and knew exactly where I was hoping to take it. I then brought it in with a dope arrangement for the band and that was that... I showed the recording I made (heard above) to some of the band members and most of them feel that it doesn't do the song justice, which may be true. Which is why you all need to see us come kill this song on May 30th, I'll have info about that show in a bit.

Let me just take a second to discuss what a pleasure it was/is to work with Alexia. Recording this was a ton of fun, and I'm so glad that she decided to work with me and bless one of my pieces with her voice. Honestly just kickin it and talking music with this girl makes the time fly, and I find that its a rarity that I run into people as naturally talented and energetic as her...

...Which is why you gotta come see her kill it live on May 30th!
& Let me know what you think of the track.

Polish Weddings are the best!!!

Last night I played a fun 25th anniversary wedding gig with my new friend and vocalist Marley Dzis.

Highlights included:
-Marley's awesome mom who insisted-upon/assisted-me-in stealing a bottle of Tanqueray.
-Marleys family's Polish folk-song/pop wedding band that played after our dinner set.
-The slew of interesting guests, some of whom looked like this. There was this one in particular where every time I saw him I swear he had a new teenage chick on his lap and axe-like deodorant in hand--always spraying with furious vigor.
-The groom of the wedding--probably about 5'5" and a buck fitty, the bride however must have been 6' two fitty. The hug from the bride at the beginning of the night let me know right from the start that I was in for quite the evening.
-Being stranded after the gig 5-6 miles west of the nearest 'el' stop, so walking into a BK at 10:30pm in a suit with my guitar and offering 3 kids $10 for a ride to the 'el', which they cautiously accepted.

It was a lot of fun, there's another one in two weeks and honestly I can't wait.
Marley sounded great too! Check her out with her former band "Current Impulse Seven" especially on this track called "XVeme Improvisation"

It feel like N.Y.--Summertime Chi, ahh...

So I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'll be doing this summer. But I'm pretty positive now that I'll be in Chicago for most of it, with internships, 925's and gigs I should be keeping myself pretty busy.

But one thing I am sure of this summer is that I'll be working at the Litchfield Jazz Camp for the fourth session. I've been going there for a couple years now, and this year they offered me a job as a teaching assistant which is quite an honor and I'm really excited about it. Litchfield Performing Arts just launched a new website and locked up master classes from greats like Lionel Loueke and Wycliffe Gordon. So if you know anyone that's interested I'd definitely recommend the program as one of the best if not the best jazz educational summer workshop in the states. Check out the website too, I snuck my way on there with a little photo and bio!

May Gigs:

Here are some of my upcoming gigs:

-Friday, May 1st: Kenneth Ross Trio/Victor Goines.
$5. Regenstein Hall, 10:30pm-Midnight. On Facebook
-Tuesday, May 5th: Northwestern University Jazz Combo.
Free. Regenstein Hall, 7pm
-Friday, May 15th: Rotimi and the Rainmakers.
Nevins Pub (Evanston) 9pm
-Friday, May 22nd: Northwestern University Jazz Orchestra.
Pick Staiger, 7:30pm

Slob the Builder...

So I got my first apartment on lock down finally. Real excited to be moving into my own place. Its really nice, but a little pricier and therefore I'm trying to save money every way I can in furnishing. There are some obvious expenses that be cut down with this apartment. Like for me, transportation costs will be down, considering my apartment is directly on Chicago's "el" train. And other things like cable television since neither my roommate nor I watch much TV. (other than sports center.) But I figured, screw Craigs List, "I'm building my own furniture."

So I got in contact with some of my engineer friends that had access to buildings with proper supplies, and I've been spending the past couple weekends building furniture. I've been working on coffee tables, bedside-tables, bookshelves, and other shit... I just finished my first piece last night, it was all dried from stain and polyurthane this morning so I was pretty pumped.

Here's how the first piece ended up, it could either be a coffee table or a TV stand with a shelf for a DVD player or something, its pretty tall...





Haha I guess its not all that much, but building your own furniture is like preparing your own three-course meal. Its real rewarding, and hey, rather than spending 15 bucks on craigs-list for a dirty old coffee table, this ran at a whopping total of $8.

So, I'm expanding my work now I think to Kitchen tables, another coffee table that'll look like this and maybe even a chair or two? crazy. Who knows? I doubt a chair will be comfortable at all, but shit if I built it... I'll sit in it. four-show.

Special thanks to Slav, and Duenser. (Without Slav there would be no stain, a couple of the nails would be missing and the piece would lack its overall charm. Without Duenser I wouldn't have been able to get into Ford to steal a bunch of shit lolz jk! jk! ... ... maybe)

"epic" joint

I'm all over the place these days, lots of work. But I'm trying to keep up with my solo stuff on top of everything else. Here's a taste of a beat I was working with for a bit. "Yes I did, I packed it up and brought it back to the..." Medieval Church? Just a little somethin to show you how we live. More to come...

Rotimi and the Rainmakers

I've been working with all kinds of musicians lately. Whether it be composing small classical works, playing with jazz groups, or making beats (many will be posted soon). But one gig that has been a lot of fun and recently has been taking off is the work I do with an R&B cat named Rotimi. Rotimi is a Northwestern Student and talented R&B singer. Things have been going well for him lately, earlier this year he opened and performed with T.I. and worked with the Jabbawockeez. I started working with him in the fall and decided that we could link up and step up his live performances with a live band. So we picked out a couple of his tracks that I then arranged for a rhythm and horn section. After I found some interested musicians to play things took off from there. Last night we performed a set at a Northwestern University benefit for over 1,300 people.

You can catch a video of our performance here. I did a little singing on "No Diggity". Other songs during the performance included covers Kanye West's "Flashing Lights", Snoop Dogg's "Sexual Eruption", and T.I's "Live Your Life/Whatever You Like" and a slew of Rotimi originals arranged for the band.

The gigs continue with performances at Evanston's "Keg" on Thursday night (03/08/09) and future performances at Tommy Nevin's. I'm also writing some joints for Rotimi that will hopefully be recorded in the near future. As always, I'll post joints asap!

Like A Star--Remix

I promised some covers, so here they are:

Like A Star - Corinne Bailey Rae (Performed/Arranged by RossKennethMusic)



This is my latest complete song that I've banged out of my 5' x 5' dorm room (haha I should put up some pictures soon to show you all what I'm working with over here.) Anyways, I had my iTunes on shuffle the other day and this beautiful ballad by Corinne Bailey Rae came on, I hadn't heard it in a while but I felt like it was something that I could definitely work with. So I transcribed the harmony and started playing it on my rhodes while serenading my Miles Davis and Thelonuis Monk posters with the delicate melody. Initially I was trying to see how I could freak it into a dance joint; but after a couple of trials I found that its really just beautiful as a ballad. (Remnant of some of the dance-track-attempts can be heard during that ass smackin' outro) I hope you like my version... and if not, here's the original to enjoy: Like A Star

^dates

I apologize for the hiatus...

Schools been crazy here, but I've been busy with music so I'll give you some bullet points of what's to come:

-This past week I've been working on a number of beats that I hope will come together this weekend

-I've been working on another cover! Its been a while since I've done one, the last was about a year ago, when I re-made Stevie Wonder's solemn "They Won't Go When I Go". I'll post both covers as soon as I finish this new one, don't want to give it away yet.

-jazz jazz jazz jazz has also been what I've been up to lately. Lots of transcribing and arranging. Today I shedded Wayne Shorter tunes for two hours alone. I have gigs this Thursday and Monday, so I've been hectic with rehearsals. But I'll post some of the recordings as soon as I get them.

-I've also been working on arranging a big set for a band to play with Rotimi at this big battle of the bands coming up. Winner plays at mayfest, so we gotta bring it.

-I've been working on my keyboard chops a lot lately, just staying up to hours that I shouldn't and playing through ballads and gospel tunes, I'm finally starting to feel comfortable in a variety of keys, it definitely came in handy in this new cover I'm working on... but you'll hear that soon enough...

so I'm sorry to tease you like this, but all in good time.. stay tuned.

-Oh... and for those of you who didn't get the issue, I sneaked into this months issue of DOWNBEAT... "where's waldo?"

experimentin' with the ross-kenneth-solotet.

Its been too long, I know. I apologize. School gets crazy here in the tri-mester system... its like three weeks of fun and not doing that much work, and then BOOM. midterm this week. wow. Some of my friends haven't even gone back to school yet.

So, continuing with the last post... I had been eluding to how I had been checking out more industrial sounds in some of my new tracks... well I figured why not post them?

Let You Down



This track isn't fully done. I just did a quick couple takes on the vocals, and never really came up with an ending other than to let the beat build. I showed it to my friend Rotimi and he said he might want to check it out and sing on it. I dig the chorus to this one, reallllll catchy. My vocals are whatever on it right now, hopefully you can get the jist of it though.

PJ&B



This track was built of a sample of an Eddie Vedder composition for the "into the wild" soundtrack. PJ&B stands for (Pearl Jam and Beats). It was kinda my ode to my buds Alex and Dave that love Pearl Jam a lot more than they probably should. To be honest, this track was kind of a joke when I first made it, but it definitely led into that "Let You Down" track that I produced. It was when I started working a lot with effects and different kinds of synth sounds/moods. Oh, the creepy devil laugh... no idea. I was at home for two weeks alone. Shit gets crazy.

PEEPs.

Yall know what time is it...




Today, you need to check out: Flying Lotus

This west-coast cat's got music in his blood. The nephew of Alice Coltrane, wife to the late jazz legend John Coltrane, Flying Lotus is a hip-hop/experimental producer that takes his music and art seriously. My friend Ian told me about him on New Years Eve, and he showed me Lotus' Myspace. At the time, while slightly inebriated, the shit just sounded like noise/nonsense to me. The next day I re-visited the page and I felt like the music was onto something; so on a whim I bought Flying Lotus' latest: "Los Angeles" on iTunes. After listening through the album a couple times, I got hooked. I also purchased his: "Reset: EP" which has the track "Tea Leaf Dancer" on it. (Dope. you can check it on his Myspace)

I've been getting more and more into experimental/industrial sounds lately. I think that incorporating these kinds of styles/sounds into hip-hop and pop genres is really the future of the music. You can already hear the spread/addition of it in some popular tunes. Just listen to Beyonce's new Single Ladies. Not to get too off topic, but honestly; the first half of this song is just clapping and electronic/industrial noises. And what I think personally makes this song is the "chainsaw-like" synth on the repeat of the chorus. The songs dope, and when you think about why its dope, you can see its all about the sounds, the vibe that the sounds create, and especially the production and mastering of the track.

Working off this, as far as underground hip-hop goes, this cat Flying Lotus uses crazy sounds and recording techniques to create a unique style. Building upon the funky sequencing pioneered by J Dilla (hip-hop's Jesus in many minds) and incorporating his own quirky sequencing, Flying Lotus is definitely laying down a nice foundation for future hip-hop producers. Utilizing sounds that recal Space Indavers, Super Mario World and flying nerf footballs on elementary playgrounds, Lotus definitely has a liberal mind wired for fresh kinds of sounds that can be effectively incorporated into music.

Definitely check out the video on Flying Lotus in his myspace. Its interesting and goes more in-depth on his approach, background and inspirations.

eight OUCH! eights & hEARtBREAKs

Went to the hospital last night, got seven stitches to my FACE haha

Chicago's been getting a lot of snow lately, so some buds and I went out playing snow football in about a foot of fresh powder. About forty minutes into the game I'm getting a little tired of it so I figure, why not keep things interesting and go all-out eh!?

Immediately following that thought: I shoot the gap and go in for a backfield tackle and bring a kid to his fuckin' KNEEz. I'm lying face down in the snow all content with my testosterone-induced domination and next thing I know I get a white-out shot of pain to my left temple. (Which I believe came from someone's boot, although I still don't know for sure) Ouch. So I kinda woozilly get up and make my way back to the defensive side of the field. (word choice? woozle-what?) I stand there in a sort of daze for a play or two until someone goes, "hey dude? are you bleeding dude?... Shit dude... Yeah dude... you're bleeding dude... from like... your face dude." This makes sense. I mean, yeah it hurt and burned a bit, but I figured that it was just what it felt like to get knocked in the head, its not like it happens that often to me. It was like 20 degrees out? Its not like I could feel whether my ears were actually attached or... well...

Any-who, I go inside and yeah, there was a clear trail of blood running from the upper-left side of my head dripping off of my chin. The source was quickly identified as my upper left ear, which had been severed from my head about a centimeter in detachment. No idea how it happened, no one really remembers forcefully kicking or tearing my left ear from my head socket, but hey, I don't blame them, no big deal or anything. Its not like it costs money to fix those things or anything. Either way, I was in no condition or mood to interrogate. I was actually pretty calm about the whole thing, considering I probably would have kept sacking QB's had someone not brought to my attention that I was a "severely-bleeding-dude". Some brain-child had already gone to grab the house first-aid kit, and after a quick examination of the red box; it was clear that it didn't contain enough adhesives, gauze, sterilizers, thread, needles, novocaine, or morphine to re-connect my upper-left ear to my nig-noggin.

So from here it was pretty clear I needed to see the specialist for these kinds of things, which I had heard could be found at the local hospital. Thankfully my buds Steve and Marc decided to give up part of their Saturday night by taking me. Don't feel bad for them, they watched the Bulls game and cracked tasteless jokes in the waiting room, all amongst depressed sick-people.

This next paragraph is for any of you future doctors. Good things to talk about while applying stitches: How you went to Madison for your undergraduate degree; which had a really good pre-med program where you learned a lot about applying stitches well. Bad things to talk about while applying stitches: How you went to Madison for "undergrad", where you blacked-out at every Big Ten football game, and traveled to away games often missing days of crucial classes relevant to applying stitches well. Yeah, she did inject at least four shots of litacaine directly to the left side of my face, but she should have known I wasn't that fucked up. I'm curious to see how these bad boys come out when I take this wrap off. That's the last time I go drink at "Dah-Deuce" with pre-med buddies on weekdays.

Oh--the head wrap!?!? I look like I was discharged after battling in the trenches of Normandy. This is so that my ear heals correctly and I don't get cauliflower ear and end up looking like this beaut.

Anyway, my streak of unfortunate illness continues!!! (See: "YO! I be da illest illness!!!") They always make good war stories and I hear the chicks dig scars, but I am yet to have wreaked the benefits... Seriously... I've been trying since I got my appendix removed in 3rd grade and got a nasty scar in my left "lower-abdominal" region... you know... just below the belt... but not necessarily all the way, I'll show it to you sometime, if you play your cards right. (Ladies and gentlemen: Jeremy Piven on the congas, Derrick Hodge on the bass guitar)

A Million Dreams

Last night I finally finished a joint using this Chet Baker sample. I had been working on it since September...

heres: "A Million Dreams" (Chet)



I started building this track back in September when a friend got me the "Best of Chet Baker Sings" album. Initially I wasn't that hip to his voice, but after a while I started to dig is nasal-y tone and simple approach. I generally don't like jazz vocalists because I often feel like they do too much, but Chet Baker's vocal approach is very simple and bare so I started to dig it.

The sample comes from his "There Will Never Be Another You"--a common jazz standard. I had played the tune plenty of times but never heard the lyrics to it until hearing Chet. This past summer I implemented learning the lyrics of tunes to really help ingrain the melodies into my head/memory. I really like the second half of this tune, which lyrics go:

"There will be other lips that I may kiss,
but they won't thrill me like yours used to do.
Yes I may dream a million dreams, but how can they come true--
If there will never be another you?"

Definitely check out the original track if you can, I'm sure you can nab it on iTunes for 99c or whatever. I strongly suggest the whole album, its really accessible to both jazz and non-jazz heads.

Putting together the track was a mastering nightmare, the beat I initially had just clipped way too much and sounded like distorted wash, I kept on trying to makr it work but would always give up. After re-working the track at least 5 times this is what I came up with. I dig the live drum sound/feel that I ended up with. Punching out the drum fills was real fun. I hope you all catch the "dream sequence" cliche at the end of the track, I'm sorry, I had to. haha